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Edward Snowden shuns iPhones due to secret software that can be remotely activated to spy on people, says lawyer

We should really be paying much more attention to Edward Snowden, about how our networked world actually works and the direction in which it is taking each one of us who has the know-how to turn on a computer or swipe a smartphone Expand
US whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed details of major data-harvesting operations by government listening post GCHQ Expand
Edward Snowden revealed National Security Agency activities and has been given asylum in Russia Expand
Director Oliver Stone is to make a film about whistleblower Edward Snowden (AP) Expand

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We should really be paying much more attention to Edward Snowden, about how our networked world actually works and the direction in which it is taking each one of us who has the know-how to turn on a computer or swipe a smartphone

We should really be paying much more attention to Edward Snowden, about how our networked world actually works and the direction in which it is taking each one of us who has the know-how to turn on a computer or swipe a smartphone

AP

US whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed details of major data-harvesting operations by government listening post GCHQ

US whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed details of major data-harvesting operations by government listening post GCHQ

Edward Snowden revealed National Security Agency activities and has been given asylum in Russia

Edward Snowden revealed National Security Agency activities and has been given asylum in Russia

Director Oliver Stone is to make a film about whistleblower Edward Snowden (AP)

Director Oliver Stone is to make a film about whistleblower Edward Snowden (AP)

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We should really be paying much more attention to Edward Snowden, about how our networked world actually works and the direction in which it is taking each one of us who has the know-how to turn on a computer or swipe a smartphone

The iPhone has secret spyware that lets governments watch users without their knowledge, according to Edward Snowden's lawyer.

The NSA whistleblower doesn’t use a phone because of the secret software, which his lawyer says can be remotely activated to watch the user.

"Edward never uses an iPhone, he’s got a simple phone," Anatoly Kucherena told Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

"The iPhone has special software that can activate itself without the owner having to press a button and gather information about him, that’s why on security grounds he refused to have this phone based on security grounds."

Apple has been active in making the iPhone harder for security services to spy on, and the company said that iOS 8 made it impossible for law enforcement to extract users’ personal data, even if they have a warrant.

The company has also been active in campaigning for privacy reform after the Snowden revelations, joining with Facebook and Google to call for changes to the law.

But recently published files from the NSA showed that British agency GCHQ used the phones UDIDs — the unique identifier that each iPhone has — to track users.

While there doesn’t seem to be any mention of such spying software in any of the revelations so far, a range of documents are thought to be still unpublished.

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